


chasing sandstorms

by mochibun



Series: cause people have not been kind to me [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Genre: 3+1 Things, Bonding, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Gerudo Desert - Freeform, Humor, Sand seals, Time's Grey Hairs, and wind is totally down for the ride, bet you've never seen that before, but shes way out of his league, it's cute, mild crack, moldugas, wherein wild and riju are little shits, wind gets an idol crush on riju
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-22 16:03:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochibun/pseuds/mochibun
Summary: Wind's known the sand for all his life, but Riju and Wild think there's at least a couple more lessons that need to be taught. Wind's not exactly complaining.Or, three lessons that the Gerudo Desert taught Wind, as told through Wild, and the plus one which Wind taught everyone else.
Relationships: Link & Riju (Legend of Zelda), Wild & Wind (Linked Universe), one-sided implied wind/riju
Series: cause people have not been kind to me [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734361
Comments: 9
Kudos: 268





	chasing sandstorms

**i.**

Wild's fingers dipped into Riju's jewelry box, searching for her sapphire hairpins. He'd lent Wind the Sapphire Circlet he'd bought from Isha's, and, well. The Gerudo Set that Vilia had kindly offered him (or them, or she—it depended on how he felt that day) only could do so much for the heat before even its deftly woven silks failed in the face of the unforgiving sun.

And Warriors had borrowed the Desert Voe Set Wild had stashed, more prone to sun-illness than the rest of their motley crew. So, Gerudo Set it was.

Deftly, he pinned back the first section of his hair with one of Riju's sapphire pins; then, another section, all the way until he could feel the desert breeze kiss the nape of his neck. "Nice look," Riju teased from where she was sitting on her bed, watching him. She'd forgone her heels today for something more substantial on the sand.

He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. It was all he offered to her—the most he could say without thinking. The problem with signing was that for all its nonverbal benefits, it still had its nuances, the little ticks that made him have to _think_ and _worry_ about what he had to say. So Wild just—stayed quiet. Less chances to mess up.

Riju giggled, lines forming at the corners of her eyes that twelve year olds shouldn't have. Too young—all of them, really, but that didn't matter in the face of destiny, did it? "You know, I'm sure Buliara would have a fit," she mused, "knowing I'd let some _voe_ borrow my armor..."

Under her breath, she whispered, _"What would_ vaba _say,"_ and politely, Wild did not point it out. Instead, he gestured to the exit, and Riju nodded. "Right," she said, "let's go meet your friend."

She went to the corner of her room and knelt, pulling up the corner of the woolen carpet placed there to reveal a trap door. "It's always good to be prepared," she reasoned, and gestured for him to go first. So he did, and she followed, all the way until they emerged outside of Gerudo Town's borders.

There, waiting patiently, stood Wind and two other sand seals, before Riju's trusty sandseal Patricia who gave a happy _arf_ at seeing Riju. Wind giggled too. He'd only exchanged his boots for something more suitable for trekking in the sandy dunes—after all, how could you teach an island boy how to handle the sandy heat?

"I cannot _wait,”_ Wind babbled, "to learn how to sand seal, thank you so _much, Wild—"_ and Wild gave a little embarrassed noise at the back of his throat. He shook his head; it was no big deal, really, he'd just figured as someone who adored the sun and all under it (because why would he continue his journey after rescuing Aryll?) that Wind would really like sand seal surfing.

"—but _for real,”_ Wind insisted. Then gave a little _oof_ when the Gerudo shield made itself home in his hands, tossed to him by Riju.

"First order of business," she said, smirking, "I think you mean 'learn how to sand seal _surf,'"_ she corrected. "You might be well versed in sand, but we're in the desert. Think you can keep up?"

Wind gave a matching grin of his own. "I don't know," he said, then hooked the shield to the reins around the sand seal's blubber. Cracked the reins, and then took off into the dunes with a _whoo!_ “Can _you?!”_

Riju shrieked, then similarly took off on Patricia and Wild followed, laughing. Perhaps there was something magical, in this; how the desert winds blew through his hair, how sand blew in his eyes until it got hard to see. How the air became sharp in cold when he inhaled, so much so that it hurt to breathe.

Wind slowed his own sand seal down, then turning to face them. Wild thought, privately, that there was something about the way Wind moved that betrayed his life at sea; it was how his body's weight shifted at every sudden jerk. The sort of adaptability that came with riding a boat on the sea's waves.

He looked breathless, eyes wide open in childish wonder. "That was _awesome!”_ he shouted, and Riju threw back her head and laughed.

"Shabonne will have a fit to hear that another Link will have bested Tali, and I cannot wait to hear her scream," she said, and her tongue twisted in the soft shapes of her native tongue betrayed only by the harsh _v_ which slipped into her Hylian. And Wild looked at the skies and grinned, relishing the feeling of the sun kissing his skin.

"She will be screaming _sav’orq_ at our backs, then," he said, voice rough around the edges. Like he was holding the syllables in his throat, like it was precious, an oasis in the dusty earth. And they cackled.

//

**ii.**

The second lesson—or, perhaps, the amalgamation of the later lessons which Wild had carefully planned out, only to be discarded once it was revealed that Wind was a natural on sand seals—dealt with weapons. And wielding them on sand seals, which, Wild had unfortunately discovered during his adventure, was _stupidly hard._

Once again, Wild donned the Gerudo Set and pinned back his hair underneath the veil with Riju's sapphire pins. Once again, he and Riju snuck out using the secret backdoor tucked in her quarters, and once more did Wind wait for them, Wild's sapphire circlet sitting on his brow. This time, it was crooked; Wild reached out to fix it and Wind gave a beaming grin in return.

"I heard we were using weapons today," he said, and Wild hummed. "So, will I be able to swing, like, ten swords? Ooh, can I use the Phantom Sword?" he said, and then moved to pull it out. Wild gave a little giggle underneath his veil; Riju had none of his misgivings and laughed straight in Wind's face.

(But what Wild did not notice was the way she'd paused before doing so. He did not notice the adoring stares which Riju and Wind gave him, both caught up in how when he laughed, it was rough and soft and unwholly wild. Wholly beautiful. The sort of awe that one has at an older person, of the stories and adventures told in the figure of their body and the longing to be just like them.)

Regardless, this time it was Wild who tossed something at Wind—a regular Gerudo bow, if enchanted with a quick shot effect. (In the quiet of night, when Wild had dropped by Gerudo Town, preparing to storm Hyrule Castle, Riju had spoken of the _ko’tame_ craft. The magic of the earth that ran in the desert blood of her sisters, and her aunts and mothers before her, that they wove into their weapons and gifts in between the things she'd ladled into his arms.)

"Try it," he said. Wind pulled back the bow, testing the drawstring and the weight of it.

"I like it," he admitted, and Riju beamed.

"Score for the Gerudo," she said, "Rito: 0, Gerudo: 1021!" It was a silly thing—a one-sided rivalry which Riju had with the Rito and their craftsmanship, which, she argued, while good, would never beat the Gerudo _ko’tame._

So they went sand seal surfing again—this time, it was slower, so Wind could actually hear Riju and Wild over the wind whistling and the roar of adrenaline in his ears. "Follow the balance of your sand seal," Riju shouted, Patricia zig-zagging. Wild himself followed his own sand seal (temporarily named Ari).

Like the last lesson, Wind was a natural, quickly getting the hang of feeling the weight of the weapon in his hands. "Wild," he shouted, "thank you so much, I'm totally going to freak Warriors out with this and he'll scream and it'll be awesome, so thank you _so much—"_

Whatever Wind was going to say, though, was cut off by the blaring of a horn. A rumble. Wild scanned the surroundings about them, carefree feeling gone. _Dragon’s Exile,_ he realized with a start, and then turned to Riju.

"Molduga territory," he whispered, and then his free hand went to his Sheikah slate, flicking through it to equip his bomb arrows. Wind looked at the two, concerned, and Riju shrugged.

"Then I guess we're going to lesson number three," she said, and grinned, cracking her whip. Wild shrugged. Might as well, and he looked at Wind, who was as old as Riju, who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and thought, _yes, he can do it._ Because he could.

//

**iii.**

So Wild cracked his whip and followed Riju deeper into molduga territory. "Lesson number three," he shouted over the wind and the pounding of his heart, "actually _using_ the weapons!"

Wind cackled, and cracked his own whip; his sand seal darted after them. "Cool," he said, and then glanced at the rumbling behind them. "Want to explain that?"

"Molduga," Wild offered. "Follows vibrations in the sand. If you don't think you can handle it, just stand still; Riju and I can distract it so you can get your bearings and rejoin us."

They'd caught up so they were on par with Riju, who looked behind them. "Get ready," she said, and when the quaking of the earth had grown to its peak, the molduga lunged, breaking through the sand dunes like it was water. Wind shrieked, and Wild laughed, drawing his bow and the bomb arrows in his quiver to knock it down.

_Boom!_ It fell with a thunderous crash onto the earth, vulnerable, and Wind drew his own bow and rained down fury upon the beast. His arrow struck true in the vulnerable underbelly of the beast; as horrible as Wind’s aim tended to be, under pressure, he never failed. Of course, that tended to be the case with heroism.

Although, in the end, it was really Riju who was victorious; when the molduga had swung in a circle, it knocked Wild and Wind clean off their sand seals. They'd foolishly stopped to attack—but the desert was always dangerous, and inaction led to death. But Riju had led it around Dragon's Exile in a chase before landing the killing blow.

She cracked her whip and shot through the sand, and Patricia gave a joyful noise and Riju crowed. The molduga dove after her, cutting through the sand like a shark through water, before Riju tugged on Patricia’s reigns sharply. There seemed to be a moment, there, where time slowed down and she stared the monster in its eyes—

A flash of silver, and in the eyes of the molduga did the arrow strike. It howled, giving a dying shriek, and then fell with a mighty _crash._

There was something triumphant, there, to Riju—the splash of monster blood on her cheek, the vicious, windswept hair which had fallen out of its usual hairstyle, and how when the beast had fallen, slain, Wild and Wind had flinched. She did not, and merely straightened her crown. 

She held her head high, a warrior queen—perhaps unconventional, but she was, after all, a child of the desert and the monsoon winds which only occasionally blew through. Blessed rains and luck. Chief Makeela Riju. Wind's eyes were wide and there was even the hint of red that stained his face, and faintly, Wild could sense the idol crush that was about to form.

Who could blame him, though?

And then it was about the time when the lizalfos had subsequently descended on Wild, who shrieked, and then Riju panicked and Wind accidentally shot an arrow which did not mix well with lizalfos, which was how they found themselves sitting at Kara Kara Bazaar, heads hung in shame.

//

**+i.** ****

"I," Time said, and then paused. Like he needed a heavy drink. Which reminded Wild that he needed an ID of his 117 years so he could actually try out a Noble Pursuit.

Behind him, Buliara gave a heavy sigh. "Reckless," she chided Riju, who _hmphed_ defiantly.

Finally, Time seemed to have gathered his thoughts. _“You,”_ he said, jabbing a finger at Wild and Wind, "are going to give me _grey hairs._ Monster hunting with _the chief of the Gerudo tribe,_ what were you _thinking,”_ he ranted.

Wild would have felt guilty, but there was nothing shameful in the prowess that Riju and Wind possessed. And besides, "The chief of the Gerudo?" Wild gasped, hands pressed onto his cheeks in mock horror. "Oh no, not way would Chief Makeela Riju would _never_ do something so stupid as to kill a molduga."

Riju gave a grin, a little wild and feral in its own right. Wind’s face flushed red, almost imperceptible. "Of course not," she said, catching on, "No way would she dirty her hands with the likes of killing a molduga. That's why she hired Link of Outset Island and Ser Link, Champion of Hyrule and Princess Zelda, Wielder of the Sword That Seals the Darkness, to take care of it." Buliara facepalmed.

Time sighed harder. _“Grey hairs,”_ he stressed, and Wind grinned, unrepentant. Then shook the sand out of his hair.

"Worth it."

**Author's Note:**

> this started off as a live write, which i took and edited slightly to make more coherent and fluid. i hope you guys enjoyed it :D


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